Cambridge Sabbatical

 On Monday we drove 5 hours from Prague to Austria. We stopped at Cesky Krumlov, a picturesque town that looks like the setting of a fairytale.  Then on to Austria. We are staying 4 nights at an Airbnb which is an apartment in a holiday complex by a lake near the town of St Wolfgang.  It’s about 45 minutes from Salzburg, birthplace of Mozart, so we went to visit there yesterday and met up with my cousin Andrew.  That’s Andrew in the black shirt. We haven’t seen each other in 10 years, so we almost walked past each other at our meeting point! Famous fountain at Mirabell Castle. Features in the sound of music film - the kids dance around it singing Do Re Me! Family in the castle rose garden A church we thought was the famous cathedral but wasn’t 😆 Lunch at a beautiful restaurant overlooking the city  A subgroup of us (without Robert and Eliza) took the funicular up to the fortress in the middle of the town.  View from fortress Firing cannons at the fortress....

 Here are a couple other photos from our Prague visit so far.  Visiting Robert’s school friend Lucie in the countryside Lenny taking selfies Eating cheese from Crete! Local playground Playing with 50 year old toys at grandparents house Hike in the woods by Robert’s parents house Lunch with aunt and nieces Finding a balloon at the playground  Playground chalk board Lucie and her dog

 We are visiting the Czech mountains for 4 nights. Robert’s parents made a reservation at a mountain hotel about 4 months ago - it’s a hotel used as a ski base in the winter and a hiking base in the summer. Full bar and on site brewery too, of course!  And the food isn’t bad either :) Today was our first day and it rained/stormed a bit but we were able to get out for a 3.6 mile hike anyway. We only got a bit of rain, and it was actually a bit of a novelty since we never hike in the rain in LA!

   Hi readers, it’s been a while! We are in the Czech Republic visiting Roberts parents. We arrived on June 11th and spent the first week hanging out at their house and visiting family. And Hanna and I got a 2 day getaway to a “spa” town which is a small town in the hills where people go to rest, relax and convalesce from illness. It’s a very traditional thing to go to a spa town, such a strong tradition that people today still regularly get a prescription for spa from their doctor and are sent to all expense paid “recovery” vacations for a week or two after surgery, all paid for by the state, complete with daily massage and other important treatments! So we took the bus 2 hours to Karlovy vary and found our hotel. It was only $100/night for a stunning location, big room and buffet breakfast, including pool, tennis and spa access. Dinner Al fresco first night by the river. Hanna insisted I wake up at 7am the first morning to play tennis before it got too hot. So much for sleep...

 Some pics from our Crete vacation so far.